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I know as salespeople you have already heard how important listening is and that you consider yourself a good listener, but I am defining listening differently here so . . . listen up!

It is natural for us, as salespeople, to engage our prospects and customers on a business level and then listen for their business needs, which hopefully our products and services can help them address. And that’s great, but what about their emotional needs? Read more

I was talking to one of my sales friends who is very successful and has been at the selling game a long time. He told me, “You know, I don’t think people buy because they want something . . . I think they buy because they are afraid they are going to miss something.”Read more

We work with several psychologists on the emotional elements of both buying and selling. One thing they have always stressed to us is the importance of what they call “validation.”

Validation is defined in this context as acknowledging and respecting the other person’s point of view. We may not agree with it, but we acknowledge and validate his/her right to have and express it. Read more

Alan Weiss tells a great story in his book, “Great Consulting Challenges.”

A national hair cutting chain moved across the street from a neighborhood barber shop and advertised $5.00 haircuts as an opening promotion. The barber’s sons advised him to cut his price to $4.00 to ward off the new challenge. Instead, he put up a sign that said, “We Fix $5.00 haircuts for $10.00.” According to Weiss, people loved it. Read more

Occasionally we all run into an especially tough customer in the form of a classic “know it all” who takes particular delight with arguing every point and can even become almost abusive in the process. At first blush, it may seem like we have no chance, but often these types of buyers can be closed by a little “jiu jitsu.” Here is what I mean…